Harvey Weinstein rushed to hospital from Rikers Island with 'chest pain' just hours after 23-year sentence
Harvey Weinstein was rushed to the hospital on Wednesday after he complained of chest pains just hours after he received a 23-year prison sentence for rape and sexual assault, reports state. A criminal court sentenced the 67-year-old after his convictions last month for forcibly performing oral sex on production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2016, and third-degree rape for assaulting Jessica Mann in 2013. He will not be eligible for parole for the next 20 years.
Weinstein's sexual assaults were brought to the fore through the landmark #MeToo movement. At least six of his accusers sobbed and hugged each other in front of the courtroom after the disgraced film producer was finally given a prison sentence.
The convicted sex offender, however, was rushed to a hospital within hours after the sentencing, according to NBC News. Weinstein, after his conviction, had also spent multiple days in the hospital with varied ailments.
The former producer's attorney, Donna Rotunno, after Weinstein's sentencing, suggested that he will now die in prison, saying that sex offender "won't see the light of day." Weinstein, after his sentencing, was brought to Rikers Island Prison but now has been transferred to Bellevue Hospital.
Weinstein's spokesperson Juda Engelmayer released a statement, saying: "Harvey was having chest pains and the Rikers staff decided for safety to send him back to Bellevue now. He will be evaluated and likely will stay overnight. We appreciate the care and concern of the Department of Corrections officers and staff."
Weinstein's defense team, on Wednesday, had slammed his prison sentence, calling it "obscene" as they vowed to appeal the punishment in July. The disgraced producer had faced the possibility of a maximum prison sentence of 29 years. Rotunno, while appearing on Fox News' Bill Hemmer Reports, said talked about the sentencing, saying: "I think the number is too large. I think it's too large for the evidence that we heard and I think it's too large for the charges that the jury found him guilty of."
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, on Wednesday, said that their prosecutors have started Weinstein's extradition process to bring him to California from New York. "The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has begun the process of extraditing defendant Weinstein to California to face the sexual assault charges that were filed in January," a LADA spokesman said. "No arraignment date has been set. Once a date has been set, our office will notify the public."